May. 20, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen Summer has arrived in New York City — unofficially, at least — and Brooklyn’s beaches will open for swimming on Saturday, May 24. Lifeguards will take their stands at Coney Island beach, Brighton Beach, and Manhattan Beach at 10 a.m. that day, and the beaches will be open…
Apr. 22, 2025 By Gabriele Holtermann Council Member Chi Ossé, New Yorkers for Parks (NY4P) and local park advocates rallied Monday at Herbert Von King Park in Bedford-Stuyvesant, calling on Mayor Eric Adams to restore funding for the city’s Parks Department and 800 parks-related jobs. Park advocates say underfunding and understaffing have led to…
Apr. 17, 2025 By Adam Daly Over 400 student volunteers from across the city helped plant native beach vegetation along the dunes of Coney Island Creek Park this past planting season, part of an effort to combat flooding and climate impacts threatening the southern Brooklyn neighborhood. The students — representing 20 public schools from…
Apr. 15, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen To tree, or not to tree? That is the question at the center of the third lawsuit targeting the city’s long-planned overhaul of Fort Greene Park. The lush but aging greenspace was chosen as one of eight city parks to be overhauled by the Parks Without Borders program…
Mar. 13, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen Months after hundreds of brush fires burned through Brooklyn’s green spaces, its parks are still recovering — and girding themselves for a future where those blazes are more frequent. This week, the Prospect Park Alliance and Marine Park Alliance were among five city park groups to receive “wildfire…
Feb. 21, 2025 By Alesandra Tejeda The timer started at 8:11 a.m last Saturday morning. Almost immediately, Laura Waterbury, an environmental educator with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy and the leader of the morning’s birdwatching walk, shouted: “Oh! In the water!” Everyone turned to peer through their binoculars at the Double-crested Cormorant that had…
Jan. 13, 2025 By Kirstyn Brendlen Though it has been temporarily disassembled, the Bed-Stuy Aquarium has big plans for the future, organizers said last week, and those plans haven’t changed despite recent news about one of its co-founders. The controversial sidewalk fish “pond” made headlines again this month when Hajj Lovick, who helped create…
Dec. 26, 2024 By Kirstyn Brendlen A Mulch-y Christmas to all! The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation wasted no time helping Brooklynites give their live Christmas trees a responsible “fir-well” as its annual holiday, Mulchfest, kicked off on Dec. 26. New Yorkers buy thousands of live Christmas trees each year, and…
Dec. 19, 2024 By Lauren Rapp There’s a new barista at Prospect Park. Poetica Coffee can now be found slinging coffees from their new mobile food and coffee cart located near the Willink Plaza Entrance. The cart is officially open to the public, offering a full menu of coffee, snacks, and pastries. The menu…
Dec. 6, 2024 By Adam Daly The newly renovated Vinland Playground in Bay Ridge officially reopened Wednesday following a $3.4 million facelift. NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue and City Council Member Justin Brannan joined residents on Dec. 4 to celebrate the upgrades, which include a toddler playhouse, two new swing sets, and a colorful…